A/N: Hi all, this chapter has a big mood shift from the last chapter and that was somewhat intentional. I'm getting to the point where I'm kind of sick of this fanfic, so I skipped a few meaningless things in the middle and went right to the beginning of the end. The final number of chapters will probably be between 45 and 50.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Sophie sat up and yawned. How long had she been asleep? It was impossible to tell the time of day in Perspeculum.

She dragged herself out of bed. The floor was freezing under her bare feet.

"Keefe, what time is it?"

But Keefe wasn't there. That was odd. He wasn't known to be an early riser.

She made for the archway. Dex was walking by, and he looked curiously at Sophie as he passed.

What had woken her up? She was sure something had. She had a gnawing feeling underneath her ribcage where her knot of emotions was. Something terrible had happened, she was sure of it. But what was it?

She walked across the living room, trying to keep her steps even. She peeked into the room she shared with Lia. Her younger sister was a tiny lump underneath the covers. Sophie was amazed at how neat she kept her sheets. Sophie's blankets were always crumpled up and hanging half off the bed by the time morning came.

Then she checked Fitz and Biana's room, then Tam and Linh's. They were empty. She ran to the next arch. They were all there. Dex was pacing along the walls. He looked up when Sophie came in.

"Dex, do you feel—"

"—like something awful happened?" he finished.

Sophie didn't have to answer. He knew. Her panic switch shivered and tightened on her finger.

The feeling was chewing at her stomach. It was ripping apart her knot of emotions, and she could barely control her own ability. She needed to Inflict on something, anything, before the hitch beneath her ribs burst open.

"What's happening to me?" she whispered.

"I don't know," he said. A metal bracket flew off of the wall.

"Something's gone wrong with our abilities," Linh said shakily. She was huddled in the corner, enveloped in a sheet of mist. "It's so hard to . . . control . . ."

The mist around her trembled, and Tam rushed to her side as Linh collapsed. Shadows followed him like spilled ink.

"Where's Biana?"

"I'm here."

Sophie looked around, but she couldn't see her.

"I'm in-invisible. Why is this happening?"

The mist parted for a moment to reveal Linh's scared eyes. "Something's changed."

Lia woke up with a start.

Something's changed.

A feeling was growing inside of her, a kind of uneasy awakening. And she recognized it.

It meant the beginning of the end.

They were ushered away by Tiergan and the rest of the Collective. Physic's face was strained. Perspeculum shuddered and shook with every step she took.

When Sophie asked what had happened, they wouldn't answer. They had blocked their minds too, and she was too weak to break in. All she could find were whispers of thoughts.

Dex, Dex, Dex.

And once, from Physic: Edaline.

They locked them in the White Room and left, taking their muddled thoughts with them. Sophie couldn't stand it any longer. She unloaded her Inflicting on Iggy and instantly regretted it when he flopped down on the cold marble floor, sweating and shaking. She let him climb into her hands and smothered his stinky fur in kisses.

Lia was slumped against the door.

"Let us out!" she screamed. She pounded her fists against the white door. "Let us out, you no-good, worthless f—"

"Lia, stop!" Biana grabbed her arm and pulled her down. "It's no use."

"It's the end," she sobbed. "It's the end and frozen fingernails and she started the fire and they're waking up. It's the end and our talents know it and they're going out of control. I'm the weapon, Sophie, I know what it means now, I'm the weapon . . ."

"No, Lia, no, you're not the weapon," said Sophie. "Lady Gisela was trying to scare me, that's all. Don't you remember—"

"I remember enough!"

"STOP IT!" Biana shouted.

And the White Room vanished. Only the floor was still visible. They were hovering in empty space.

Lia held out her hand as if she was reaching for something . . . and she vanished too.

"What are you doing?" said Sophie.

"I don't know!" Biana answered.

Suddenly, there was a pounding on the door. The White Room became visible again, and so did Lia. Her left hand was pressed against the wall.

The doors flew open, and the Collective strode into the room. They seemed to have gotten a better grip on things, although Physic's hands were still clenched into fists.

"Dex," she said, "you need to leave for a few minutes."

"If you're finally telling them what all this stuff is about, I can hear it too," said Dex.

"No, you can't. This isn't without reason. You're a risk."

"How am I a—"

"You. Are. A. Risk." Wraith jabbed a finger at Dex. "Now step outside before we have to forcibly remove you."

"You'll have to get past me first." Biana stepped in front of Dex. She put her hands on his arms behind her, and he vanished. "And my powers are stronger than you think."

Sophie realized she was standing close to Wraith. Close enough to . . .

She kicked him in the shins as hard as she could, breaking his concentration. She slipped into his mind, but she was shoved back out in less than a second. It didn't matter. She had found what had changed.

And it was too terrible to imagine.

"Dex," she said, "you're a risk—"

"Traitor," Biana snarled.

"—but the Collective should have told you anyway. You deserve it. Biana, let go of him."

She let go, and he became visible again.

"Dex—" Sophie stopped, then tried again. "Dex, your—" She couldn't say it.

"Lia, you know what happened, don't you?"

She nodded. "I'll show them. Frozen fingernails," she mumbled. She shut her eyes tight.

The body appeared slowly. It was completely encrusted in ice. The hands were twisted into claws, and the nails were coated in frozen crystals of blood. The face was the worst part. Underneath a layer of frosted ice, lines of blood ran down the cheeks where its fingernails had gouged its own skin. The eyes were closed. A few flakes of powdered snow adorned the eyelashes.

Juline Dizznee had frozen to death inside her own ice.

A/N: I looked over my outline today and realized, "Wow. I am killing off Shannon's characters in the most horrible, awful ways possible." Speaking of which, I've also been thinking about changing the rating to T because that last image of Juline sounds way more grotesque in writing than it looked in my head. I'm hesitant to do so because KEEPER is middle-grade, which is like K+, so tell me in your review if you think I should give this fic a T rating or keep it at K+. Thanks!